


Smile, please

by martianwahtney



Series: p l e a s e [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 19:18:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6672169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/martianwahtney/pseuds/martianwahtney
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>where Bucky's more than a little nervous to be in the same room as Tony Stark but Dum-E helps him calm down. and maybe Bucky needs to smile more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smile, please

     It was the middle of the night when they found him. Sam and Steve finally managed to drag the infamous Winter Soldier to the Tower. It had taken a lot of coaxing to get Bucky to agree to it. The former HYDRA asset knew far too much about each inhabitant of the Tower. The spy. The archer. The God. The punk super soldier. The scientist. The engineer. And then him, the brainwashed ex-assassin with so much blood on his hands he could fill a pool three times over. He’d be a _great_ fit. But Stevie had been insistent so Bucky followed his best friend to Avenger’s Tower.

     Bucky didn’t have as much as a minute to take in the Tower before he was ushered to Tony Stark’s lab. Steve was saying a thousand words a second. Bucky, half paying attention to his surroundings, half paying attention to his best friend, only caught snippets

     “... really abrasive…”

     “... absolutely brilliant…”

     “... don’t like anyone touching your arm, but I promise he can help…”

     Then they were outside Tony’s lab. Through the glass door and windows Bucky could see a man working at a metal table. He could hear the screaming guitars of some kind of rock song. Steve rapped twice on the glass. Instantly the music cut out and there was an audible click as the door unlocked

     “Gonna linger in the doorway any longer Capsicle- oh!” Tony turned around to see the good Captain and Bucky

     “You brought me a gift!” the engineer's dark gaze was locked on Bucky’s metal arm. Steve gently clapped Bucky on the shoulder, and squeezed gently, a comforting gesture

     “Give him a chance.” Steve urged quietly before he slipped out of Tony’s lab. Bucky could feel panic start to bubble in his stomach. Steve had left him _alone_ with the man. Not just any man, no, but Anthony fucking Stark. Stark had to know- _had_ to know- that Bucky was responsible for the deaths of his parents, Howard and Maria. How could he not?

     Tony could easily see the panic starting to well up in the other man. And since the last thing Tony wanted was a panicked ex-assassin on his hands, he did the one thing he knew how to do. Talk. Tony talked. About everything and anything that came to his mind. As he gathered up everything he needed to take care of the metal arm (and as a constant stream of bullshit left his mouth), he could see Bucky slowly starting to relax. The look of eminent panic slowly edging off his face. Tony crossed his lab to get to the man’s metal arm. For a second he could only stare. The thing was goddamn gorgeous. Tony, loathe to admit, was highly impressed with the work. But he could totally make a better one. HYDRA could fuck the fuck right off.

     “I gotta say, Barnes, this thing is a piece of work”

     Tony ran his calloused fingers over the intricate metal plates of the arm and grinned. At the sight, Bucky started to smile as well, it was a small and nearly non-existent smile. HYDRA had always told him emotions would get him killed one day. The engineer’s dark eyes flicked up to meet Bucky’s gaze. The former had a half grin on his face. The latter immediately let the smile fall from his face, unsure on whether or not he was even allowed to smile.

     But Tony was fucking gorgeous.

     And then Tony was talking again, and putting little pads on his arms. Pads with wires. Wires that were attached to some kind of computer. A computer that talked. A talking computer that was called JARVIS apparently.

     Before immersing himself back into his different projects Tony told Bucky that he could wander about the lab as he liked. So he did. There were so many gadgets and gizmo’s Bucky didn’t know what to make of them. Schematics were strewn all over the room, some of them on paper, some of the holographic. A few were for the Avengers, Bucky recognized the Black Widow’s insignia as well as Steve’s signature shield, others were for SI, which Bucky assumed stood for Stark Industries.

     From somewhere behind him there was a soft beeping noise. Bucky turned with a start to see a curious robot with one arm and a clawed hand. The arm twisted and whirred as the machine beeped again. It took longer than Bucky would admit for him to realize there was a white, pointed cap on top of the robot that read the word ‘DUNCE’. Bucky looked over the robot again, the word Dum-E written on the side.

     “Dum-E” Bucky spoke the word quietly.

     The robot trilled it what almost sounded happily. Bucky smiled again. This time the smile was much bigger and more pronounced than anything he’d ever tried to do in HYDRA.

     “Your name is Dum-E” Dum-E trilled again. It’s claw gently prodded at Bucky’s metal arm. Bucky slowly reached out to pat the robot’s metal frame. Dum-E let out a string of excited beeps and trills. Bucky’s smile widened. He’d only been smiling for a few seconds but his cheeks already hurt. When Bucky withdrew his hand, Dum-E made a few insistent beeps, and nudged again at his arm

     “We both have a metal arm,” Bucky agreed quietly.

     Tony just happened to glance over at Bucky. The engineer did a quick double take and stopped working on whatever it was that he’d been working on to watch Bucky interact with Dum-E. The damn bot was still wearing the ‘DUNCE’ cone. As he should be after that nights earlier, and disastrous, attempt at making a smoothie. The brainwashed assassin wore a smile on his face as he gingerly patted Dum-E’s metal from. For a moment Tony was content to watch the two of them, he knew there was a dumb smile on his face but he didn’t care in the slightest.

     Bucky looked over at Tony only to find that the engineer was staring at him and Dum-E with a small smile on his face. Bucky’s own content grin slipped from his face. Tony had caught him smiling. But instead of getting angry like Bucky was all too used to, Tony’s warm grin widened and he winked.

     “Don’t stop grinning on account of me, peaches, you’ve got a nice smile.”

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted to my tumblr!  
> [here!](http://anthonystarhk.tumblr.com/post/143461442988/metal-arms-robot-pals)


End file.
